My Life
by LilyGhost
Summary: Ranger turns introspective on a night he and Stephanie both worked hard for. Told from Ranger's POV.


**Thanks to 808HawaiianState for suggesting the song "In This Life" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole for a Babe story. This is my interpretation of the lyrics and meaning of the song. Everything familiar belongs to Janet. The mistakes are mine.**

The first floor is full to capacity, my men are as relaxed as it's possible for them to be, and tonight my company has taken another step towards becoming a nationwide phenomenon. While I can't find fault with the lifestyle my determination, patience, and strategic planning, has provided ... getting the curly-haired wonder now working the room to agree to take this ride with me is what I'm most proud of. _She's_ what I've done all of this for.

I had successfully started "Rangeman" in Trenton, Boston, Atlanta, and Miami, before Stephanie fully entered my life, but the branches I now have open in LA, Tucson, Cleveland, Nashville, Baton Rouge, and if all goes well Puerto Rico next year, she's been right by my side for. The launch party we're currently attending for this building in D.C. is no different. She's shown to be as determined as I am in business and just as formidable in life. My woman is hell on wheels and tonight on high heels as well, leaving a trail of flustered, flushed, and compliant men wherever she went.

My new hires, and a few veteran ones, aren't immune to her countless charms. And while it does piss me off a little, I can't help but feel proud that she really could have anyone she wanted, and she still has eyes for no one except me. I know if I point out how many of my employees are half in love with her, she'd look at me like I'm nuts. It's the same for me. I never wanted a relationship. I certainly didn't _need_ one until Stephanie barreled full steam ahead into my life and took it - and me - over.

She was a fascination, then a full-on addiction, an island of peace when I was desperate for some, and a treasure I never thought to look for, never mind actually find. She was my date to Julie's eighth-grade graduation, and Julie was her maid-of-honor at our wedding. My daughter had been my driving force to better myself and become a success in life, but Stephanie literally breathed life into me.

To the outside world, I enjoyed - even flaunted - the monetary byproduct of doing what I'm good at and felt I had to do for the men I got home safely and the ones I had no hope of saving. But no one knew my enjoyment had just been a hollow and one-dimensional diversion. I didn't feel pride, accomplishment, or joy, with what I'd had ... I didn't feel much of anything. The successful businessman everyone saw was mainly for show. It's a proven fact that if you look the part, people trust that you are what you're projecting. When in actuality, my soul felt too dark for anything lighter to penetrate, leaving me with an emptiness inside that nothing could touch. I'd get up every morning trying to find a reason to do it again tomorrow.

Before Stephanie, creating Rangeman had been that reason. My work became my life, but not to provide myself with an opulent one. My company is my way of paying back a debt I felt I owed for what I had to do during those times I want to forget, but still haven't been able to. The moment I met Stephanie, I knew I'd finally found my salvation. I had to bide my time, but the most worthwhile things in life are those you have to work for, and I appreciated her even more when I did get to hear her say that she loves me ... and _only_ me.

As if she sensed my shifting moods, she looked away from the lovestruck face of my newest D.C. hire, Sebastian, and over at me. She didn't wave or smile, and neither did I. Instead, she tapped the latest Rangeman hopeful on the arm and said what I'd assume is an 'excuse me'. She wasted no time getting to where I'm standing with my back flat to the wall in the darkest, quietest part of my new building's lobby.

The black dress poured over her body like a seductive, shimmering skin. It's completely strapless with a hemline that stopped just before it hit her knees. It's sexy as hell to me, but not inappropriately so. She'd turn heads in any case, but that body combined with her innate kindness and infectious personality, made short work of any employee or client she directed her blue eyes at. And _I'm_ the lucky sonovabitch who gets to love her daily ... and thoroughly every night.

Those eyes, her ready smile, and the curvy body encased tonight in material that caught and held the light every time she moved, had me thanking anything Holy ... as well as my parents, my daughter, and my mistakes and successes, for getting me to this point. I can have everything or nothing as long as I have her.

"Proud of you, Batman," Steph said when she reached me, slipping her bare arms around my waist and kissing that spot along my jaw that always gets her attention. "You're safeguarding the country one city at a time. That's pretty impressive, you know. You should be feeling very proud of yourself and the guys."

I curled my own arm around her, never being able to get close enough to her. If we died simultaneously and our souls got fused on the way out, I'd still need more of her. Thinking along those lines had us recently deciding to forgo any form of birth control to let nature or fate take a shot at us.

"I am proud of my men, but I couldn't have done this without you, Babe," I said, burying my lips and nose in her curls where she'd piled them for the evening.

The strands are scented similarly to the cotton candy Julie always asks to get whenever we take her out and pass a place that sells it. Steph claims she puts her hair up for me just so I can lose my fingers in it, searching out each pin. If I let myself, I could gently stretch each curl out one by one and watch for hours as they spring back into place. Considering how turned on we both get whenever I touch any part of her, I have to believe that she does do certain things for my benefit.

"You could have created an empire without me," she said, "but I'm _soooo_ glad you didn't want to. I enjoy seeing you in action and working your magic ... I like it even more when I get to be part of it."

Despite the crowd, her left hand found its way into my suit jacket. She laid her palm over my heart like she does every night as she falls asleep. It's a nightly reminder of the vow we each repeated during the ceremony that made us husband and wife. **'** _ **In this life ... as long as my heart is beating, it will belong solely to you'**_. We meant it at the time, and with every work emergency that required time apart, during personal scares like when Grandma Mazur was briefly hospitalized for pneumonia, and through increasingly busy schedules as our combined business efforts paid off, that vow has only been reinforced. Every fiber of my being is hers and she's been _extremely_ receptive to the idea of being mine.

"I could rule the world, Steph, and you know it wouldn't mean shit to me if you weren't there helping me do it."

To this day, when she smiles at me like that, my dick hardens and my heart pounds faster. She felt both reactions to her as she fitted the front of her body to mine ... a side-hug no longer enough for her either.

"I do know that. There were a few years where I actually thought I was pretty useless, some even said I wasn't worth any effort, but you've given me a goal in life and have made me feel like every day I've been with you has been priceless. I'm feeling bad that I used to roll my eyes whenever Mary Lou said she was 'blessed' to have Lenny and her boys, but I understand what she meant now. You've really been a dream come true for me ... and I'm not just talking about a _dirty_ dream."

I grinned. She still can't say something laced with emotion without cutting it with some form of humor. Before her, I didn't - and couldn't - see the humor in anything, so she's been my own miracle worker, but I won't make her gag by telling her that. I kissed her instead, and continued to until an oversized and unwanted hand hit my shoulder, not hard enough to get him killed, yet still annoying enough that I'd say something. I knew Tank had been loitering nearby or that hand would've been immediately removed at the shoulder joint before it ever touched me.

"What?" I said to him, but with my lips still against Stephanie's.

"You're here to _schmooze_ , not spend the night _smooching_ your wife. You do that plenty on your own time as it is."

Steph pulled back from me just far enough so she could hold out her arms to him. "Are you feeling ignored again, Tank? Come here and I'll give your cheek a little love."

Only she and Ella can get away with showing him affection in public. He's almost as bad as I am at letting people in, but once he declares you a friend, you become a permanent one. He sees Stephanie as someone trustworthy, which is why he came over to us instead of staying in the shadows too. As she knew he would, Tank took two steps away from her. He's my best friend partly because he's not stupid, and my wife kissing another man could get someone dead real fast.

Brown and Santos are the closest people to me and Steph after Tank, but they walk the line between sane and stupid daily. Without asking or being asked, the two of them decided long ago that they'd be the ones watching our backs when they feel we need eyes besides our own. They had also been close by until that moment. I said a mental ' _Fuck,_ ' because I know making eye contact with them lets them believe it's okay to join our conversation.

"I'll take that kiss if he doesn't want it," Santos said to my wife.

He knows I'll gut him without remorse if he ever made a pass at her, but he does try to needle us occasionally with platonic flirting that Steph finds amusing, but doesn't encourage and never returns. I'd put an end to _it_ and _him_ , but I don't have an issue with her knowing that other people, not just me, appreciate the woman she's become.

Never one to pass up a chance to teach someone a lesson, Steph totally ignored Lester and kissed Bobby's cheek instead.

" _Hey!_ " Santos protested.

"You get greedy," she said, "and you get _nothing_."

"We all just saw you kiss Ranger ... and your husband's the greediest bastard there is when it comes to your attention."

"As it should be," I told him.

"See? _T_ _hat's_ why Ranger gets my lips whenever he wants them. He says stuff like that and actually means it," she informed them, kissing not my cheek but my mouth again. She drew her head back a beat later with her eyes already at half-glazed. "Maybe Tank has a point. I shouldn't be hogging all of your time. You're the big boss and all, but you should get to enjoy tonight, too."

"I am, Babe. More than you know."

The world could stop turning tomorrow, the entire Rangeman franchise could go bankrupt with all of our hard work being for naught, or I could lose every friend I've ever worked or served with, and I'd survive just from knowing that she promised to love me for life ... and will be mine even longer than that.


End file.
